Flood Plain Management

The Floodplain Management Regulations promote the public health, safety, and general welfare; minimize flood losses in areas subject to flood hazards; and promote wise use of the floodplain. The County Planner is the Floodplain Manager for Dawson County. Floodplain maps, management regulations, ACOE studies, and other historical and hydrological information are available in the Planning Department at 207 West Bell. Please contact the County Planner at 406-345-4139 with any questions regarding floodplain manangement.

The Floodplain Management Regulations guide development within the 100-year floodplain by reducing uses that are dangerous to health, safety, and property in times of floods; and by reducing the amount of increased flood velocities caused by new structures in the floodplain. Permitted development within the floodplain is required to be floodproofed or otherwise protected from flood damage, or from causing damage to other property.

Unimpeded water courses are necessary to safely, quickly, and adequately carry floodwaters away from developed areas. By reducing and guiding development withint flood-prone areas, the Regulations also help minimize the need for rescue and relief efforts associated with flooding, and the asssociated financial burdens to the community.

The Regulations are also required as part of the County’s participation in the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP.) The County was re-instated into this program as of the adoption of the Dawson County Floodplain Management Regulations in 1999, after a number of years of not participating.

The NFIP is a Federal program enabling property owners in participating communities to purchase insurance protection against losses from flooding. This insurance is designed to provide an insurance alternative todisaster assistance to meet the escalating costs of repairing damage to buildings and their contents caused by floods.

Participation in the NFIP is based on an agreement between local communities and the Federal Government that states if a community will adopt and enforce a floodplain management ordinance to reduce future flood risks to new construction in Special Flood Hazard Areas, the Federal Government will make flood insurance available within the community as a financial protection against flood losses.